November 10, 2016

Highlighted Year: Norm Johnson, 1984

Placekicker, Seattle
Seahawks

Age: 24

3rd
season in pro football & with Seahawks

College: UCLA

Height: 6’2”Weight: 193

Prelude:

Undrafted
coming out of college, Johnson signed with the Seahawks and made the club,
hitting on 10 of 14 field goal attempts during the strike-shortened 1982
season. He followed up with another solid year in ’83, kicking 18 field goals
out of 25 attempts and 49 of his 50 extra point tries for a total of 103
points.

Seahawks went
12-4 to finish second in the AFC West and qualified for the postseason as a
Wild Card. Won AFC Wild Card playoff over Los Angeles Raiders (13-7). Lost AFC
Divisional playoff to Miami Dolphins (31-10).

Aftermath:

Outstanding
at kicking off as well as consistent on field goals, Johnson went on to spend
nine seasons with the Seahawks, through 1990. He left as the franchise leader
in field goals (159) and scoring (810 points). Johnson went on to spend four
years with Atlanta, gaining Pro Bowl recognition in 1993 when he was successful
on 26 of 27 field goal attempts for a league-leading percentage of 96.3. Joining
Pittsburgh in 1995 he led the NFL with a career-high 34 field goals and the AFC
by scoring 141 points. He spent four years with the Steelers and finished his
career with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999 at the age of 39. Over the course
of 18 seasons, Johnson kicked 366 field goals in 477 attempts (76.7 %) and 638
PATs for a total of 1736 points, which ranked fourth in NFL history at the
time. He added another 20 field goals in 26 postseason attempts, including four
in Pittsburgh’s AFC Divisional playoff win over Buffalo following the 1995
season. Johnson received consensus first-team All-NFL honors after one season, some
first- and second-team recognition after one other year, and was twice selected
to the Pro Bowl.

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Highlighted Years features players who were consensus
first-team All-League* selections or league* or conference** leaders in the
following statistical categories: